The Ree models come with NEM coupler pockets on a close coupling mechanism and Roco-style couplers that work extremely well but they're pretty ugly and highly visible as you can see:
especially when compared with scale screw link couplings:

Given I don't want/can't have a manual method for coupling/uncoupling the stock, I investigated some alternatives - specifically Alex Jackson and Sprat & Winkle. The Sprat & Winkle couplings worked reliably but I found them a little too obtrusive. I liked the minimal appearance of the AJ couplings very much but found them very hard to fit partly due to the large amount of underframe detail on the Ree models and partly due to my ham-fistedness.

Luckily I found an article on a simplified AJ-type coupling by Vincent de Bode (MRJ 123) that seemed to fit the bill and some experimentation confirmed this type of coupling would fit my needs perfectly.

...Is it all ETAT and PO or a mixture of all of the French pre nationalisation companies?

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It's a mixture - Ree do a good job, I think, of making multiple variations of the same prototype and in different liveries for various time periods as you can see here. I'm settling on a slightly vague time period (epoch III-IV) although there shouldn't be many visual clues other than the rolling stock itself so I should have a bit of flexibility to run a wider range of stock later on if I want.

Because of the way I've built the baseboard and back scene (more on that later) I need to complete the scenery at the rear of the layout first. This will include retaining walls and rocky outcrops primarily to get a lot of height at the rear of the layout without sacrificing a lot of depth (given the baseboard is only 0.3m/1ft deep.)

I've not modelled rock since cork bark was considered state of the art so I needed to experiment with some more modern techniques and I've settled on using Hydrocal plaster with rock moulds such as those from Woodland Scenics and Noch. This test piece was painted with Tamiya acrylics (XF-19 Sky grey, XF-55 Deck tan, XF-57 Buff, XF-59 Desert yellow, XF-68 NATO brown), given a coat of Vallejo Model Wash 76.517 Dark grey and then dry-brushed with Tamiya XF-2 Flat white:

The gorse bushes in the foreground are another experiment with Magigras from Microrama (more on that later too.)

This all started when I came across Vikas Chandler's layout lighting website - incredibly serious and sophisticated, well beyond anything I could attempt but a seed was sown and I decided to investigate LED lightstrips (and RGBW LED lightstrips in particular) that can be controlled using an Arduino board:

Each 'lamp' in the RGBW lightstrip is made up of 4 LEDS - one red, one green, one blue and one white - that can be addressed or controlled individually (not just on/off but also brightness) meaning it's possible to display over 16million colours and by using an Arduino board to control each LED it's possible to create dynamic effects - an excellent series of examples can be found here.

For the most part these effects are too garish for layout lighting but dramatically slowed to be nearly imperceptible some of the effects are extremely subtle and just what I wanted.

Unfortunately it's hard to demonstrate with a short video and a time lapse sequence rather negates the subtlety but once the layout gets more established I should be able to demonstrate at least some of the effects here.

Great stuff Chris, there are lots of things to like about your approach and subject. I'm particularly impressed by the Ree wagons too, especially when fitted with the new couplers.

I'll be interested to see how the layout copes with having 5 tracks across its comparatively narrow width at one point (well, technically between two points, but you get my drift), I suspect that being 3.5mm rather than 4mm will help with rolling stock on the track.

I'll be interested to see how the layout copes with having 5 tracks across its comparatively narrow width at one point...

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I was worried about this as I always find it hard to resist trying to squeeze just a little bit extra in. So, I originally planned to firmly limit the track plan to a standard 5-3-3 Inglenook but, after spending a lot of time playing around with various configurations, I came up with something that I hope is uncluttered:
[The base as shown is slightly narrower than it will be once finally installed - the rear edge (which is on the left of the photo) will abut against a separate scenic strip on which I've mounted retaining walls and the rocky outcrops I mentioned in an earlier post. It's just a lot easier to work on this strip without having to stretch across the track work.]

I won't dwell a lot on the baseboards. I've used Tim Horn's 5ft x 1ft full scenic photo box with additional 2ft x 1ft baseboard (for the storage sidings/traverser) all of which went together quickly and easily.

I particularly wanted a seamless, arching backscene having been fascinated by the tent-inspired method of using a fabric cloth for the seemingly endless sky on Martin Stringer's Tollesbury Quay layout (MRJ 246). But after a lot of fruitless experimentation with various materials (including heat-shrinkable polyester fabric) I settled on something more rigid - blue foam and depron sheets suitably shaped, filled, sanded and then painted pale blue:

Anxious to get the track base in place, I've been working on the scenery strip at the rear of the layout which, as mentioned above, includes retaining walls and rocky outcrops.

The retaining walls were built up from foam board and faced with laser-engraved 'feuille de pierres hexagonales' from Decapod. Quoins and drainage pipes were made up using cartridge paper and lengths of thin brass tube:

The black, rubbery areas are pieces of Magigras which were created by covering the walls and outcrops with cling film and then applying the Magigras resin which, once dry, were removed and trimmed to shape prior to applying static grass.

Here's the end result, after applying the static grass and leaves (from Microrama):

The backscene looks good . It's nice to see the deeper blue sky at the top then fading towards the horizon.

From the photos it's also apparent the scenery and trackwork towards the rear of the layout will not cast any shadows on the backscene once the lighting is in place - I presume this was part of the development and design?

As for the lighting strip itself will this be mounted directly to the 'ceiling' or will you angle it inwards slightly to project onto the sky? Does the lighting strip tell you the angle of light dispersion e.g. 30 deg, 60 deg - apologies I don't know the technical term for this.

Only asking as I experimented with LED lighting strip on a guitar case shunting layout and found I needed to angle it in by 10 to 20 deg. This was a temporary set up as I subsequently re-engineered the arms with central joints to enable the lighting strip to fold back into the case scissors fashion.